The road to solving three unsolved murders just might run through the El Paso County Sheriff's Office and the investigation into Daniel Nations.
"We believe that he was our suspect who was threatening hikers and bikers up in the Monument and Mount Herman Road areas," said Jacqueline Kirby, El Paso County Sheriff media relations manager.
Investigators said Nations wielded a hatchet scaring people on a trail in the same area and during the same timeframe that a cyclist Timothy Watkins was shot and killed.
"We are definitely investigating to see if there is any link between Mr. Nations and the homicide of Timothy Watkins," Kirby said.
Nations was initially arrested in Teller County on a weapons charge for being a convicted felon in possession of a gun.
Nations is also a person of interest in unsolved murders near Indianapolis where he used to live. Two teenage girls, Abby Williams and Libby German ages 13 and 14, were killed while hiking on a trail in Delphi, Indiana in February. Police have not released how they were killed.
The NBC affiliate in Indianapolis confirms that investigators are in Colorado interviewing Nations about those murders. A sketch of the Indiana suspect shows similar features to Nations.
"There are some similarities to what has occurred (in Colorado) to what we have (In Indiana). Unfortunately, I can't go into any great detail right now, but there are some similarities," Sheriff Tobe Leazenby, Carroll County, Indiana, said.
Nations is currently being held on $10,000 bond in Teller County.
"He does have an extensive criminal history in multiple states," Kirby said. "We're looking at violent offenses. We're looking at sexual offenses."
In 2007, Nations was convicted of Indecent Exposure for masturbating in front of a 24-year-old woman in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart. He is a registered sex offender.
Anna Williams is the mother of Abby Williams, one of the victims in Indiana. She says she's being cautiously optimistic that investigators have finally found the killer after long 7-and-a-half months
"Every time something like this comes up, we hope and we pray some more and we've learned it just takes time," Williams said.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office said more charges against Nations are expected.
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Editor's Note: This report has been corrected to reflect the fact that police have not released the cause of death for Abby Williams and Libby German.
